My friends at the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) asked me to contribute an essay as part of a series of perspective pieces they’re curating for their Substack on the subject of Pride.
We missed you on the FAIR in the Arts Townhall last night Jamie.
As a far right conservative who mostly reads religious and right tilting political commentary, your FAIR piece on Pride helped me to understand the history of a movement that I have almost exclusively heard described in a negative context.
It is always healthy to hear both sides of an issue.
Jenny, it is the willingness of fair minded people like you to understand those who live very different lives from your own from which true peaceful coexistence is possible. Thank you.
And as you mention Rosie Kay in your essay who is indeed lovely -- have you seen her new substack and her very moving piece on her breast cancer? She is through the worst and able to dance again which is good. https://rosiekay.substack.com/p/the-three-cs
I felt effectively turned into a one issue person after reading those comments, and I have a lot of interests that overlap with others of different backgrounds. If Gay identity is on a hierarchy of needs and interests, it’s right next to food and water for this Gay man.
I appreciated your essay on the FAIR Substack. As a hetero woman, I often wonder what my old LGBA college friends from the 90s think of today's movement. I've told my sons repeatedly that they live in a completely different world than I did.
I usually avoid the comments section, so I hadn't noticed the vitriol. I am sad when I read responses like the ones you received.
This entry was recommended to me. Thank you for writing both posts.
I am beyond dismayed at the comments on your FAIR Substack article. I am shocked. Perhaps I am naive. I've been involved with FAIR since the summer of 2021. I can't believe those comments came from actual FAIR members. Although I do know some peripheral FAIR folks did not like my involvement in the organization as a trans man. Sadly, there may now be splintering in the heterodox world along certain demarcations. Perhaps again it is my naivety or absence on social media that did not recognize this phenomenon. I truly love your witty and catty articles. Keep it up. It brings levity into the world!
Zander, FAIR and any other organization you contribute to, are lucky to have you! Listen: Carrie Fisher said it best. The truth will set you free…but first it will piss you off! Better to allow folks to expose their own biases, in my opinion. When you lift the rock, sometimes the creepy crawlies come out and I say better out than in.
“some of the… comments made me suddenly and vividly aware, after many years, that certain kinds of hate and hateful narratives are lurking just below the surface, and can be so easily conjured up”:
I see increasing numbers of antisemites and homophobes and racists and misogynists popping up in heterodox spaces. I guess they think they can find some respectability there. But there’s nothing respectable about making wild generalizations about diverse groups of people and expressing negative emotions about people you’ve never met and do not know.
We may have had four years of witnessing how vile “woke” can be, but my sense is that we are about to discover how much worse “anti-woke” can be, especially if 45 returns as 47…
We missed you on the FAIR in the Arts Townhall last night Jamie.
As a far right conservative who mostly reads religious and right tilting political commentary, your FAIR piece on Pride helped me to understand the history of a movement that I have almost exclusively heard described in a negative context.
It is always healthy to hear both sides of an issue.
I thank you for that.
Cheers!
Jenny Hatch
Jenny, it is the willingness of fair minded people like you to understand those who live very different lives from your own from which true peaceful coexistence is possible. Thank you.
I enjoyed your piece on FAIR. I always enjoy your writing. It makes me think. Please keep putting pieces up.
As luck would have it, there was a good piece about Pride in today's Telegraph -- both Simon Fanshawe who helped start Stonewall and later broke with it and Malcolm Clarke made good contributions. The title of the piece was -- How Trans fanatics tore Pride apart. I think you might find it interesting. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/17/pride-trans-activists-lgbt-debate-divided/ or https://archive.ph/o7XEg
And as you mention Rosie Kay in your essay who is indeed lovely -- have you seen her new substack and her very moving piece on her breast cancer? She is through the worst and able to dance again which is good. https://rosiekay.substack.com/p/the-three-cs
I felt effectively turned into a one issue person after reading those comments, and I have a lot of interests that overlap with others of different backgrounds. If Gay identity is on a hierarchy of needs and interests, it’s right next to food and water for this Gay man.
I appreciated your essay on the FAIR Substack. As a hetero woman, I often wonder what my old LGBA college friends from the 90s think of today's movement. I've told my sons repeatedly that they live in a completely different world than I did.
I usually avoid the comments section, so I hadn't noticed the vitriol. I am sad when I read responses like the ones you received.
This entry was recommended to me. Thank you for writing both posts.
I am beyond dismayed at the comments on your FAIR Substack article. I am shocked. Perhaps I am naive. I've been involved with FAIR since the summer of 2021. I can't believe those comments came from actual FAIR members. Although I do know some peripheral FAIR folks did not like my involvement in the organization as a trans man. Sadly, there may now be splintering in the heterodox world along certain demarcations. Perhaps again it is my naivety or absence on social media that did not recognize this phenomenon. I truly love your witty and catty articles. Keep it up. It brings levity into the world!
Zander, FAIR and any other organization you contribute to, are lucky to have you! Listen: Carrie Fisher said it best. The truth will set you free…but first it will piss you off! Better to allow folks to expose their own biases, in my opinion. When you lift the rock, sometimes the creepy crawlies come out and I say better out than in.
Thank you, Jamie! Indeed, let the prejudice arise and show itself. Hopefully, it does not grow too large and alienate all the good people of FAIR.
Those who have read my piece for FAIR, "The Case for Pride" and this follow up piece might be interested in this powerful response by Monica Harris at FAIR: https://news.fairforall.org/p/deconstructing-the-lgbtq-backlash?lli=1
“some of the… comments made me suddenly and vividly aware, after many years, that certain kinds of hate and hateful narratives are lurking just below the surface, and can be so easily conjured up”:
I see increasing numbers of antisemites and homophobes and racists and misogynists popping up in heterodox spaces. I guess they think they can find some respectability there. But there’s nothing respectable about making wild generalizations about diverse groups of people and expressing negative emotions about people you’ve never met and do not know.
We may have had four years of witnessing how vile “woke” can be, but my sense is that we are about to discover how much worse “anti-woke” can be, especially if 45 returns as 47…